K = What do you know?
I had quite a bit of pre-existing knowledge of GBL and gamification and I just wanted to find out if I was missing a trick in regards to adding games into my lessons, especially for older kids. W = What do you want to learn?
I want to learn how to integrate gamification into more senior levels of study that enhance the HSC rather than take students away from the content they need to learn. L = What have you learned?
This is me coming back having now completed the course. I am now more comfortable in my attempts to integrate GBL into my classes especially in relation to Gamification in senior classes. I have started to create a unit of work for my Year 11 based on Transmedia and Gamification into which I will drop some actual gamification which they will participate in as they study it. This has been a very worthwhile course.
Reflection
I understood that involvement and fun were requisite aspects of all good learning processes, but I can now see that there is method to the madness as I include games and GBL into my classroom tasks and late, more grandiose assessments. Making sure I include 3 of the four elements of fun (Hard, Easy, Serious and People/Social) will also help my lessons become more effective and memorable.
Level 2
Where do I start?
I am starting my journey into the world of GBL and gamification in Year 11. The preliminary course lends itself to this type of interaction with students and will probably bleed across both English and Fundamentals of English which I also teach. From an English as a Second Language teacher I am also excited to introduce to my students inventive ways of conveying information as well as retaining the knowledge they receive for future use (usually exams and assessments). The Outcomes I will concentrate on in the ESL classroom are: Outcome 1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between composer, responder, text and context. (This one speaks to Gamification especially in regards to Transmedia work which we look at.) Outcome 5: Students demonstrate understanding of how audience and purpose affect the language and structure of texts. Outcome 6: Students interpret texts using key language patterns and structural features. Outcome 7: Students describe the ways different technologies and media of production affect the language and structure of particular texts. Outcome 9: Students engage with a wide range of texts to develop a considered and informed personal response. Outcome 10: A student assesses the appropriateness of a range of processes and technologies in the investigation and organisation of information and ideas.
Allow me to talk to all these Outcomes together. Utilising gamification and GBL in the conveyance of information in class and in the tasks the students must complete for marks within a unit of work in which they are researching transmedia and gamification, I consider all these Outcomes to have been met. Meta learning and reflective work the students undertake go a long way to proving the effectiveness of gamification in the classroom. I had my Year 11 students take part in an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) throughout the term, where I could drip feed them information and assessment notifications in the guise of a game. They were able to see the interplay of texts within a single narrative and the features utilised opened up a whole new world of techniques they had at their disposal when it came to writing extended responses.
Observe and reflect
I take part in a lot of ARGs, and I have always believed that Transmedia narratives have a part to play in the conveyance of information in the classroom. The elements of gamification (Dynamics, mechanics, components) all need to be organised and understood by the teacher for smooth game play (and knowledge retention) to happen. I enjoy a challenging game where I can be proud of my individual achievements as well as those brought about through collaboration. There needs to be some form of win and something tangible to collect so I have always made sure the games I create to convey course content have all these traits as well.
Reflection on the tasks and their effectiveness is also vital not only as feedback to the 'games master' but also for the players, to consolidate what was learnt and how it can be utilised in life.
Level 3
Premiers Reading Challenge Reflection
Becuase it is more of a competition than a game, the challenge has certain gamified aspects such as challenges, rewards, achievements, constraints. and collections but does not go close to becoming classified as GBL in my opinion. I am a personal advocate of the content being covered in a narrative and without it, something always seems lacking. The emotional involvement is also limited. I am also unsure as to the levels of fun one can assign to reading books as a challenge. It may have negative impacts as students skim to complete books quickly, a bit like travelling to 13 countries in a week and a half and then calling yourself a seasoned traveller.
The intensity of the gamification used here is limited.
Zombie Learning Reflection
The scope and sequence and other information shows this unit of work to be an extremely versatile and effective example of gamification. It lends itself to the outcomes the teacher is attempting to address and the narrative element adds emotional depth and a stronger chance of interaction between participants. It obviously looks as though it has taken a lot of hard work to create the unit and my hat is off to the teacher behind it. This is probably the greatest problem I have with actually seeing my gamified ideas come to fruition: a lack of time. It is also mentioned on the website that certain children may not like the idea of zombies and it does have the chance to polarise a class when a certain genre is chosen by the teacher. I'm unsure how this could be combated. I am always tweaking the ARG I created last year to run like a vein throughout the course over 8-10 weeks. The fictional characters become the mentors and teachers and lead the students of 'journeys of discovery', a concept which is then reflected upon and segues nicely into the new Area of Study in Year 12 HSC.
The intensity of the gamification used here is strong, with opportunities to expand even further.
You Try/ A final reflection
Please find below a summary and appraisal of a lesson/assessment I create this year.
Year 11 ESL
Term 3 Unit of Work: Transmedia narrative and gamification.
OVERVIEW, PURPOSE AND RATIONALE
For this lesson the students had to work as a team (5 students in total) to complete a ‘quest’ on the school campus. The quest was an Alternate Reality Game I had created based on the fictional world of a text they had previously studied in class. The game required students to complete puzzles and create their own texts while utilising their Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking skills in English.
This lesson was conducted at the end of the term, just before the assessment period. Students had had been notified that they would need to write a reflection statement pertaining to what they experienced as they completed the ARG.
The aim of the lesson was to consolidate the students understanding of transmedia narratives, gamification and the process of making meaning in texts through practical experience and to explore the links between story and experience.
It was important to make sure the purpose of the lesson was stated overtly through discussion of the outcomes in order to make sure students were aware of the reasons for the lesson and its link to the unit of work being undertaken. If the students were unable to understand the importance of the lesson to their assessment schedule, then their motivation would have been severely curtailed.
Lesson Outcomes
Outcome 2: A student identifies and describes relationships among texts. Outcome 4: A student develops language relevant to the study of English. Outcome 6: A student interprets texts using key language patterns and structural features. Outcome 7: A student describes the ways different technologies and media of production affect the language and structure of particular texts. Outcome 11: A student analyses and synthesises information and ideas from a range of modes and media. Outcome 12: A student draws upon the imagination to transform experience into text. Outcome 14: A student reflects on own processes of learning of English.
DESCRIPTION OF YOUR AUDIENCE
This class was comprised of 16-18 year old ESL students who rarely put any effort into schoolwork unless it is assessable. With the students’ entirely self-serving motivations in mind, I created an ARG I thought would pander to their strengths, in an effort to increase the likelihood of success and perhaps help them see that fun is an important element of success. The majority of them said they would preferably be sitting in a classroom writing essays than solving puzzles and ‘playing games’ which shocked my own sensibilities.
TIME CONSTRAINTS
It was a double lesson, so I had 110 minutes for them to complete the ARG. The term leading up to the pre-assessment ARG was focussed on studying game mechanics and the motivations and effects of transmedia narratives, so the lesson was the culmination of a long term of serious study. These time constraints led to me having to truncate the narrative and make the puzzles a little easier than I would have liked. I also needed to shadow the group as they completed the task, which I was not planning on doing.
GAME ELEMENTS
Game Dynamics
oNarrative
Based on the fictional world of Allansia from the Fighting Fantasy game books of the 1980s, the narrative I created to house the gaming experience was immersive and consistent. It had elements which explained the link between reality and unreality and wove a coherent story around the lives of ESL high school students. They had to interact with characters in the story through phone calls, websites, emails etc. It would be classified as GBL more so than mere gamification.
oProgression
There was probably not as much scope to have students improve their skills or knowledge in this lesson as it was more a chance to utilise what they had learned throughout the term. Level progression through the game itself was clear and user progress was obvious in that respect, each level having a ‘big boss’ puzzle which needed to be solved before students could move on to the next section of the game.
oEmotion
There was definitely a level of emotional connection between the game characters and the students which usually manifested in frustration and outrage when they couldn’t figure out what to do. That being said, I did not design the ARG to focus on the emotional connection between students and the game, rather the point was to have interaction between students and an emotional connection between them.
oRelationships
As stated above, this ARG lesson was designed with a consistent and well thought out level of interaction between students. In the vain of an ‘Amazing Race’, the group at times had to rely on each other and support one another to reach the end goal. It worked extremely well in this regard.
Game Mechanics
With numerous physical and mental puzzles and challenges, the game mechanics used made this lesson a good example of Games Based Learning. The competition was not against one another, but instead with the clock. The rewards were clear (I did sweeten the deal with extra motivation by placing a ‘small reward’ at the end of the quest if they were to complete it). All puzzles were achievable and solving them gave the students clear feedback of their abilities. The puzzles themselves were based around English word games and such to link them to the Outcomes.
Game Components
The number of game components was small for this ARG as the time restriction of 100 minutes didn’t allow for leadership boards and badges and the like. As stated, it was a singular quest with one team. It did have ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ elements to the narrative, where I wrote in more than one ending, but the group followed one linear course of action. There were levels in so much as there were sections of the story unlocked by solving puzzles. The final goal was the ain achievement and in finishing the quest the students collected their prize.
FUN CHECK (integrated and purposely built in)
Hard fun
There were definitely opportunities for challenge, mastery, reword and accomplishment. Designed to play out like a fantasy role playing game, the puzzles the group faced were difficult, but by using the knowledge they had learned over the course of the year they were able to solve them all as a team. They did at times become very frustrated, especially as the time ran out and they didn’t know how many levels there would be.
Easy fun
Again, time restraints limited the opportunities for exploration and role- play, but these were definitely written into the minutiae of the narrative itself. I would loved to have had the chance to increase the level of surprise and creativity the students could have experienced, but hopefully some of this will come out in the assessment they complete after the ARG is complete. All that being said, some of the puzzles required students to search the school grounds for certain artefacts which led them to areas of the school they had never been.
Serious fun
This element of the game really manifests in the reflection statement they complete in the assessment after the game is complete. It is here they have a chance to express their values and be creative and talk about the real learning they did while participating. There were times during the lesson that students experienced excitement and creativity, but it was limited as their main concern was finishing the quest, not giving them much time to relax and contemplate.
Social/People fun
It was a lesson based on cooperation and interaction. Each student had a chance to play a role in completing the quest. There were constant discussions and the occasional conflict, but in the end they got things done and achieved their goals. It was effective games based learning.
Teacher reflection/Evaluation
It was an extremely effective unit of work. All the students, no matter the level of ability in English engaged with most aspects of the content. The final ARG worked really well and allowed every student to participate in achieving the goals set forth. As an example of Games Based Learning it worked really well, the students garnering practical experience of what was being studied, which rarely happens in the English Classroom outside writing essays, making films and acting out plays. It allowed us to have side conversions about genre theory, which were also fun. The assessed reflection statement, which the students completed, added another element to the game that was vital. Not only was it feedback for me to ascertain the success of the ARG itself, but it also gave me something quantifiable to judge the success or failure of the lesson as learning experience. It took a long time to organise, but it was well worth it if the comments by the students are anything to go by. I am going to repeat this unit of work next year, hopefully improving what I did this time to give next year’s cohort another chance to experience the fun in learning English.
Phil Francis
11/11/2015
Have you filled in the evaluation? Have you found the bonus level content?
Level 1
KWL (Levels 1 and 3)
K = What do you know?
I had quite a bit of pre-existing knowledge of GBL and gamification and I just wanted to find out if I was missing a trick in regards to adding games into my lessons, especially for older kids.
W = What do you want to learn?
I want to learn how to integrate gamification into more senior levels of study that enhance the HSC rather than take students away from the content they need to learn.
L = What have you learned?
This is me coming back having now completed the course. I am now more comfortable in my attempts to integrate GBL into my classes especially in relation to Gamification in senior classes. I have started to create a unit of work for my Year 11 based on Transmedia and Gamification into which I will drop some actual gamification which they will participate in as they study it. This has been a very worthwhile course.
Reflection
I understood that involvement and fun were requisite aspects of all good learning processes, but I can now see that there is method to the madness as I include games and GBL into my classroom tasks and late, more grandiose assessments. Making sure I include 3 of the four elements of fun (Hard, Easy, Serious and People/Social) will also help my lessons become more effective and memorable.Level 2
Where do I start?
I am starting my journey into the world of GBL and gamification in Year 11. The preliminary course lends itself to this type of interaction with students and will probably bleed across both English and Fundamentals of English which I also teach.From an English as a Second Language teacher I am also excited to introduce to my students inventive ways of conveying information as well as retaining the knowledge they receive for future use (usually exams and assessments).
The Outcomes I will concentrate on in the ESL classroom are:
Outcome 1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between composer, responder, text and context. (This one speaks to Gamification especially in regards to Transmedia work which we look at.)
Outcome 5: Students demonstrate understanding of how audience and purpose affect the language and structure of texts.
Outcome 6: Students interpret texts using key language patterns and structural features.
Outcome 7: Students describe the ways different technologies and media of production affect the language and structure of particular texts.
Outcome 9: Students engage with a wide range of texts to develop a considered and informed personal response.
Outcome 10: A student assesses the appropriateness of a range of processes and technologies in the investigation and organisation of information and ideas.
Allow me to talk to all these Outcomes together. Utilising gamification and GBL in the conveyance of information in class and in the tasks the students must complete for marks within a unit of work in which they are researching transmedia and gamification, I consider all these Outcomes to have been met. Meta learning and reflective work the students undertake go a long way to proving the effectiveness of gamification in the classroom. I had my Year 11 students take part in an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) throughout the term, where I could drip feed them information and assessment notifications in the guise of a game. They were able to see the interplay of texts within a single narrative and the features utilised opened up a whole new world of techniques they had at their disposal when it came to writing extended responses.
Observe and reflect
I take part in a lot of ARGs, and I have always believed that Transmedia narratives have a part to play in the conveyance of information in the classroom. The elements of gamification (Dynamics, mechanics, components) all need to be organised and understood by the teacher for smooth game play (and knowledge retention) to happen. I enjoy a challenging game where I can be proud of my individual achievements as well as those brought about through collaboration. There needs to be some form of win and something tangible to collect so I have always made sure the games I create to convey course content have all these traits as well.
Reflection on the tasks and their effectiveness is also vital not only as feedback to the 'games master' but also for the players, to consolidate what was learnt and how it can be utilised in life.
Level 3
Premiers Reading Challenge Reflection
Becuase it is more of a competition than a game, the challenge has certain gamified aspects such as challenges, rewards, achievements, constraints. and collections but does not go close to becoming classified as GBL in my opinion. I am a personal advocate of the content being covered in a narrative and without it, something always seems lacking. The emotional involvement is also limited. I am also unsure as to the levels of fun one can assign to reading books as a challenge. It may have negative impacts as students skim to complete books quickly, a bit like travelling to 13 countries in a week and a half and then calling yourself a seasoned traveller.The intensity of the gamification used here is limited.
Zombie Learning Reflection
The scope and sequence and other information shows this unit of work to be an extremely versatile and effective example of gamification. It lends itself to the outcomes the teacher is attempting to address and the narrative element adds emotional depth and a stronger chance of interaction between participants. It obviously looks as though it has taken a lot of hard work to create the unit and my hat is off to the teacher behind it. This is probably the greatest problem I have with actually seeing my gamified ideas come to fruition: a lack of time. It is also mentioned on the website that certain children may not like the idea of zombies and it does have the chance to polarise a class when a certain genre is chosen by the teacher. I'm unsure how this could be combated. I am always tweaking the ARG I created last year to run like a vein throughout the course over 8-10 weeks. The fictional characters become the mentors and teachers and lead the students of 'journeys of discovery', a concept which is then reflected upon and segues nicely into the new Area of Study in Year 12 HSC.The intensity of the gamification used here is strong, with opportunities to expand even further.
You Try/ A final reflection
Please find below a summary and appraisal of a lesson/assessment I create this year.
Year 11 ESL
Term 3 Unit of Work: Transmedia narrative and gamification.
OVERVIEW, PURPOSE AND RATIONALE
For this lesson the students had to work as a team (5 students in total) to complete a ‘quest’ on the school campus. The quest was an Alternate Reality Game I had created based on the fictional world of a text they had previously studied in class. The game required students to complete puzzles and create their own texts while utilising their Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking skills in English.
This lesson was conducted at the end of the term, just before the assessment period. Students had had been notified that they would need to write a reflection statement pertaining to what they experienced as they completed the ARG.
The aim of the lesson was to consolidate the students understanding of transmedia narratives, gamification and the process of making meaning in texts through practical experience and to explore the links between story and experience.
It was important to make sure the purpose of the lesson was stated overtly through discussion of the outcomes in order to make sure students were aware of the reasons for the lesson and its link to the unit of work being undertaken. If the students were unable to understand the importance of the lesson to their assessment schedule, then their motivation would have been severely curtailed.
Lesson Outcomes
Outcome 2: A student identifies and describes relationships among texts.
Outcome 4: A student develops language relevant to the study of English.
Outcome 6: A student interprets texts using key language patterns and structural features.
Outcome 7: A student describes the ways different technologies and media of production affect the language and structure of particular texts.
Outcome 11: A student analyses and synthesises information and ideas from a range of modes and media.
Outcome 12: A student draws upon the imagination to transform experience into text.
Outcome 14: A student reflects on own processes of learning of English.
DESCRIPTION OF YOUR AUDIENCE
This class was comprised of 16-18 year old ESL students who rarely put any effort into schoolwork unless it is assessable. With the students’ entirely self-serving motivations in mind, I created an ARG I thought would pander to their strengths, in an effort to increase the likelihood of success and perhaps help them see that fun is an important element of success. The majority of them said they would preferably be sitting in a classroom writing essays than solving puzzles and ‘playing games’ which shocked my own sensibilities.
TIME CONSTRAINTS
It was a double lesson, so I had 110 minutes for them to complete the ARG. The term leading up to the pre-assessment ARG was focussed on studying game mechanics and the motivations and effects of transmedia narratives, so the lesson was the culmination of a long term of serious study. These time constraints led to me having to truncate the narrative and make the puzzles a little easier than I would have liked. I also needed to shadow the group as they completed the task, which I was not planning on doing.
GAME ELEMENTS
- o Narrative
Based on the fictional world of Allansia from the Fighting Fantasy game books of the 1980s, the narrative I created to house the gaming experience was immersive and consistent. It had elements which explained the link between reality and unreality and wove a coherent story around the lives of ESL high school students. They had to interact with characters in the story through phone calls, websites, emails etc. It would be classified as GBL more so than mere gamification.- o Progression
There was probably not as much scope to have students improve their skills or knowledge in this lesson as it was more a chance to utilise what they had learned throughout the term. Level progression through the game itself was clear and user progress was obvious in that respect, each level having a ‘big boss’ puzzle which needed to be solved before students could move on to the next section of the game.- o Emotion
There was definitely a level of emotional connection between the game characters and the students which usually manifested in frustration and outrage when they couldn’t figure out what to do. That being said, I did not design the ARG to focus on the emotional connection between students and the game, rather the point was to have interaction between students and an emotional connection between them.- o Relationships
As stated above, this ARG lesson was designed with a consistent and well thought out level of interaction between students. In the vain of an ‘Amazing Race’, the group at times had to rely on each other and support one another to reach the end goal. It worked extremely well in this regard.With numerous physical and mental puzzles and challenges, the game mechanics used made this lesson a good example of Games Based Learning. The competition was not against one another, but instead with the clock. The rewards were clear (I did sweeten the deal with extra motivation by placing a ‘small reward’ at the end of the quest if they were to complete it). All puzzles were achievable and solving them gave the students clear feedback of their abilities. The puzzles themselves were based around English word games and such to link them to the Outcomes.
The number of game components was small for this ARG as the time restriction of 100 minutes didn’t allow for leadership boards and badges and the like. As stated, it was a singular quest with one team. It did have ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ elements to the narrative, where I wrote in more than one ending, but the group followed one linear course of action. There were levels in so much as there were sections of the story unlocked by solving puzzles. The final goal was the ain achievement and in finishing the quest the students collected their prize.
FUN CHECK (integrated and purposely built in)
There were definitely opportunities for challenge, mastery, reword and accomplishment. Designed to play out like a fantasy role playing game, the puzzles the group faced were difficult, but by using the knowledge they had learned over the course of the year they were able to solve them all as a team. They did at times become very frustrated, especially as the time ran out and they didn’t know how many levels there would be.
Again, time restraints limited the opportunities for exploration and role- play, but these were definitely written into the minutiae of the narrative itself. I would loved to have had the chance to increase the level of surprise and creativity the students could have experienced, but hopefully some of this will come out in the assessment they complete after the ARG is complete. All that being said, some of the puzzles required students to search the school grounds for certain artefacts which led them to areas of the school they had never been.
This element of the game really manifests in the reflection statement they complete in the assessment after the game is complete. It is here they have a chance to express their values and be creative and talk about the real learning they did while participating. There were times during the lesson that students experienced excitement and creativity, but it was limited as their main concern was finishing the quest, not giving them much time to relax and contemplate.
- Social/People fun
It was a lesson based on cooperation and interaction. Each student had a chance to play a role in completing the quest. There were constant discussions and the occasional conflict, but in the end they got things done and achieved their goals. It was effective games based learning.Teacher reflection/Evaluation
It was an extremely effective unit of work. All the students, no matter the level of ability in English engaged with most aspects of the content. The final ARG worked really well and allowed every student to participate in achieving the goals set forth. As an example of Games Based Learning it worked really well, the students garnering practical experience of what was being studied, which rarely happens in the English Classroom outside writing essays, making films and acting out plays. It allowed us to have side conversions about genre theory, which were also fun. The assessed reflection statement, which the students completed, added another element to the game that was vital. Not only was it feedback for me to ascertain the success of the ARG itself, but it also gave me something quantifiable to judge the success or failure of the lesson as learning experience. It took a long time to organise, but it was well worth it if the comments by the students are anything to go by. I am going to repeat this unit of work next year, hopefully improving what I did this time to give next year’s cohort another chance to experience the fun in learning English.
Phil Francis
11/11/2015
Have you filled in the evaluation? Have you found the bonus level content?